A football player's shoulder pads include a pair of padded, rigid arches or arch portions terminating in the front with a pair of breast plates, and in the rear with a pair of back plates. The breast plates are usually connected to each other by laces, and the back plates are usually connected by straps extending between the back plates and fixedly connected thereto. Some shoulder pads have been constructed as a single rigid arch through which the player's head protrudes, but such pads have comparable padded rigid arch portions terminating in front with a breast plate having right and left portions, and terminating in the rear with a back plate, having right and left portions. The present invention is applicable to both types of shoulder pad constructions.
To secure the pads on the player's shoulders, straps are provided which extend under the player's arms, along the sides of the torso, and connected between the breast plates and back plates. There can be either one or two straps for each side Of the player, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,159,715 and 5,187,812, and the straps are usually made of all elastic webbing, or a combination of elastic and non-elastic webbing. The ends of the straps are usually connected to the back plates by buckles riveted to the back plates, and to the breast plates by tee buckles insertable into slots provided in the breast plates. In order that the tee buckles can be inserted into their respective slots, it is necessary that the end portion of the strap, to which the tee buckle is secured, be elastic so that the end of the strap can be stretched beyond the breast plate slot to facilitate the insertion or hooking of the tee buckle into the slot.
There is a disadvantage in the use of elastic webbing to facilitate the stretching of the straps, in that the elasticity of the straps allows the shoulder pad arch to spread and be displaced on the torso when the player receives impacts on the shoulders. During the course of a season, the straps become stretched beyond their elastic limit, thereby losing their ability to hold the shoulder pads in place.
In order to overcome the disadvantages experienced with elastic straps, it has been proposed to employ non-elastic material, such as, a leather belt, attached to the back plate, and extending to the front and threaded through loops on the breast plate, an end of the belt having a conventional pin-type buckle engaging selective holes provided in the belt. While this arrangement overcomes the above-noted problem experienced with elastic straps, besides being expensive, the pin-type buckle provides only finite, stepped adjustment for belt or strap lengths.
To overcome the disadvantages experienced with the above-noted elastic, and non-elastic straps, after considerable research and experimentation, the underarm straps of the present invention have been devised.